The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-10-18
THE LOWER AMIN AIS.
Fromthe Pittshurg Disnatch.


| from his spiritual father as to his creed, re-
| piled: Il fear God love der vimin and hate
schnakes, especially dose rattle-heads and cop
per schnalles," came very nearly expressing
the popular idea of the relations existing be-
tween us and the brute creation since the DAYS
| of Moses. Indeed it would seem that Moses
and the rest Of the hierophants who assisted
him, if he had any assistance in getting up the
code named after him, interpolated their
| own and the then generally prevalent
| idea regarding our dumb friends, viz:
| That they must of necessity be enemies of
| the human race. There couldn't, indeed,
| be any doubt about the status of the serpent,
| but one might suppose that Moses, who got his
| education and early bias in Egypt amid the
worship of cats, onions and bulls. would have
| been friend of the lower animals. Unfortu-
| nately for the brute creation, the early impress
sion that Gin Adam fail we sinned all, ;" and
| that brutes also shared i'll the decadence of
| morals, was widespread among the children of
! Eber. They had been taught that the Lord
| said: 81 will destroy man, whom l have Gre
| atcd, from the face of the EARTH both man
and beast, and the creeping thing,
repenteth me that have made them" Only
the fish escaped the prescription, and yet our
brook trout would have been unclean to Moses
Tho idea almost everywhere set forth in the
Old Testament is that brutes were allowed
and while his weapons were confined
to the sword, spear, bow and arrows, some of
the bruteS were omean antagonists Whether
II be true or not that a serpent once INSTRUCTED
the passage OF Roman army across q river, in
Is certain that until fire arms became common
the lion and tiger had but little fear of man
and they did not decrease visiby; and we are
told in Exodus xiii, 49, that the Hivite, the
Canaanite and the lIittite were not driven out
of their holdings i'll a year. "lest the land be-
come desolatc and the beast the field multi
ply against thee" A inf in Leviticus
XVI, %, tho Israelites were threat
encd in case of disObcdienco with
this, among other evils: 81 will also send will
beasts among you, which shall rob you of you,
children, and destroy your cattle, and make
you few in number, and your highways shall
be desolate." In nation which numbered
G0O,OOO fighting men, a population of 3,000,00
it reads strangely now that fears existed that
wild beasts should multiply against them to an
injurious extent in a country about one-fourth
the size of Pennsylvania.
or MODERN BIRTH.
TIE idea that the brute creation Lave any
rights that humanity is bound to respect is Of
recent growth, and il is not much to be won
dered at in countries whose laws and religion
are strongly tainted with the teachings of the
law Of Moses. The American Indian ethnOlo-
gist seemed TO show a descent from the people
of whom Columbus supposed him to be, when
he, the Indian, classified the dog as a connect
ing link between himself and the negro. lie
put the white man first, the Indian next, the
dog next and the negro next, and he shows
his regard for tho dog in his belief that his
faithful friend shall accompany him in the
happy hunting grounds, but he comes very
near CannibaiSm in his Partially for roast
puppy. 1t is true that Solomon said "a
righteous man regardeth the life of his beast"
but Solomon would have fell himself
defled if a dog had licked his hand in friend
ship, and would have been i'll at ease until he
had gone through a publication. Ladies did
not pet poOdleS in Judea. Among people in
which mans most faithful dependent was thus
condemned we need not wonder at the order:
"Now 90 and smite Amalek, and utterly de-
strOy all that they have, and spare them not;
but Stay both man and woman, infant and
sucking, OK and sheep, camel and ass"
Doubtless the impression that everything
created below man Is wholly devoted to minis
ter TO his comfort and amusement is as old, or
nearly 50, as the race itself, and it rapidly de-
yeloped into anOther-that the powerful had
right to convert TO their pleasure the weaker
of their own brethren, hence slavery, which
exists, and alwas has, in some form, since the
beginning of history.
But the sentiment Of love and pity for dumb
animals is strangely distributed AS some one
has said, it may inspire the heart Of Tongue
NADIA and be absent in that Of a Howard. Two
centuries ago tho Society for Prevention Of
Cruelty to Animals would have been regarded
by the pious bull and bear baiter3 and cock
fighters Of the restoration rs an a35emblage o.
lOJHy Glink3, anu INC uiGulDfIo NbAlu Idf5
been fortunate If they escaped the stOckes
There arc people still living lwho
can remember when cock fighting was a
fashionable amusement, witnessed by
thousands near the Jones Ferry
landing ON the south side, and ii Is complf-
mentary to the civilization Of the present that
people who still enjoy such brutal spectacles
are forced % do it By night or in out-of-the-
way places. The expression, "Spare the rod
and spoil the child is not heard 50 frequently
as it was forty years ago, and school "masters"
are no longer chosen, mainly on account Of
their ability to wlip the largo "scholar3."
PROTECT THE GAME.
But while the most cruel may forselfsh mo-
tiyes take some measure Of care Of domestic
animals, the law for tho protection OF game in
this state is almost y nudity. The claim Of
right 10 Kill, MAIN and harass the wild animals
ia our forests would seem TO be an outcrOp Of
tho spirit that 10 years ago Momptcd the leg
isIature to pass AN act 70 encourage the kill
ing OF squirrels ia the province Of Pennsylya-
MIA" and today under the clause
allowing farmers 10 kill game in
furious 70 crops, squirrels and birds, oven song
and insectiyerous birds, are slaughtered in
season and out Of season, and even u member
OF a society for the protection Of game has been
charged with killing fish with dynamite. But